Wellerisms, named for Sam Weller in Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, make fun of established proverbs by showing that they are wrong in certain situations, often when taken literally. Typically a Wellerism consists of three parts: a proverb or saying, a speaker, and an often humorously literal explanation.

A special format for Wellerisms called a Tom Swifty incorporates a punning adverb that modifies the manner in which the statement was related.

[edit] Examples

• "Everyone to his own liking," the old woman said when she kissed her cow.
• "We'll have to rehearse that," said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car.
• A body can get used to anything, even to being hanged, as the Irishman said. (Lucy Maud Montgomery--Anne of Green Gables)
• "This week is beginning splendidly," said one who was to be hanged on Monday.
• "Much noise and little wool," said the Devil when he sheared a pig.
• "So I see," said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

Wellerisms occur in languages other than English. Here are two Dutch examples:

• "Alle beetjes helpen", zei de mug en hij pieste in zee.

(English: Every little bit helps, said the gnat and it pissed in the sea.)

• "Alles met mate", zei de kleermaker en hij sloeg zijn vrouw met de el.

(English: "Everything should be done measuredly," said the tailor and he hit his wife with a ruler.)

And a Hebrew example:

• "Nikh'ye ve-Nir'e", amar ha-Iver la-Met.

(English: "We shall live and then see", said the blind man to the dead.)

[edit] Bibliography

• Dictionary of Wellerisms, ed. Wolgang Mieder, Stewart A. Kingsbury (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
• Mieder, Wolfgang, American Proverbs: A Study of Texts and Contexts (New York: Lang, 1989).
• Mieder, Wolfgang, Proverbs Are Never Out of Season: Popular Wisdom in the Modern Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).
• Taylor, Archer, The Proverb (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1931).
• Taylor, Archer, The Proverb, and An Index to The Proverb (Hatboro, PA: Folklore Associates, 1962)